Machines for laying concrete

ABSTRACT

A concrete laying machine comprises a transversely disposed conforming plate which, as the machine advances, levels plastic concrete placed in advance of the machine, and vibratory means located forwardly of the conforming plate and operable to deaerate and compact the concrete immediately prior to levelling, said vibratory means consisting of a series of laterally spaced angularly disposed plates carried by a pair of transverse members and an electric or hydraulic motor rigidly mounted on said members with its axis perpendicular thereto, the shaft of the motor carrying an eccentric weight such that upon rotation vibration is set up in the assembly.

United States Patent McGregor et al.

[451 Sept. 5, 1972 i [54] MACHINES FOR LAYING CONCRETE [72] Inventors: Matthew McGregor; Albert Edward Burks, both of Chesterfield, En-

gland [73] Assignee: Robert McGregor & Sons Limited,

' Chesterfield, England [22] Filed: Sept. 18, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 73,504

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Nov. 13, 1969 Great Britain ..55,598/69 [52] US. Cl. ..94/46 R, 94/48 [51] Int. Cl ..E01c 19/48 [58] Field of Search ..94/46, 48

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,490,346 1/ 1970 McGregor et al. ..94/46 2,261,766 11/1941 Jackson ..94/48 X Jackson ..94/48 2,259,110 10/1941 2,269,1 10' l/ 1942 Jackson'....; ..94/48 3,098,415 7/ 1963- Guntert ..94/64 R Examiner-Jacob L. Nackenoff A nomeyNorris and Bateman .[57] ABSTRACT A concrete laying machine comprises a transversely disposed conforming plate which, as the machine advances, levels plastic concrete placed in advance of the machine, and vibratory means located forwardly of the conforming plate and operable to de-aerate and compact the concrete immediately prior to levelling, said vibratory means consisting of a series of laterally spaced angularly disposed plates carried by a pair of transverse members and an electric or hydraulic motor rigidly mounted on said members with its axis perpendicularthereto, the shaft of the motor carrying an eccentric weight such that upon rotation vibration is set up in the assembly.

3Claims,3Ih-awingFi@m PAIE'NTEDSEP' 5 I972 INVENTORS MATTHEW MCGREGOR ALBERT EDWARD"BURKS' 3 Y F NORRIS & BATEMAN PATENTEDsEP 5 I972 SHEET 2 OF 2 iV/AW/M I wwww RS MACHINES FOR LAYING CONCRETE This invention relates to machines for laying concrete in the construction of roads and like paved surfaces and particularly to machines of the kind embodying at the front end thereof a transversely disposed conforming plate, which, as the machine advances, levels plastic concrete fed on to the surface to be paved ahead of said plate.

With such machines it is desirable to compact the laid concrete before levelling and poker vibrators in front of the conforming plate have previously been used for this purpose, but it has been found that the density of the concrete falls off beyond a distance of about 7 inches from the poker vibrators so that the laid concrete has varying degrees of compactness throughout its volume.

The object of the present invention is to provide a more efficient compacting means for use with a machine of the kind mentioned, and in accordance with the invention said means comprises at least one axially vibratable tube, girder or equivalent member extending transversely across the machine in front of the conforming-plate, a number of plates attached to said member at spaced intervals and lying in planes inclined to the horizontal and means for imparting axial or longitudinal oscillation or vibration to said member and consisting of an electric or hydraulic motor secured to the member in a position with its axis extending perpendicular thereto and provided on its shaft with an eccentric weight such that, upon rotation, vibration is set up in the motor and thereby in the vibrator assembly. Preferably a number of vibrator units are suspended in a line extending across the front of the machine, each unit consisting of two parallel spaced tubes or equivalent members interconnected by the inclined plates secured thereto, the driving motor also having rigid connection with the plate-supporting tubes.

Such a construction will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a sectional side view of the front end of a paving machine incorporating the improved compacting means,

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along lines 2-2 of FIG. 1; and a FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view similar to FIG. 2, but inclined in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 1.

The machine shown in the drawings is of the type known as a slip form paver and which comprises at its leading portion a conforming plate 1, the plastic concrete being delivered in advance of the plate as indicated at 2 and the concrete being levelled in known manner by the forward movement of the paver to create a layer 3 of predetermined depth upon the base 4. For the purpose of compacting the concrete there is provided in the present instance a series of vibrator units extending in line across the machine in front of the conforming plate, one such unit being shown in FIG. 2 and consisting of two parallel horizontal steel tubes 5 interconnected by four plates 6 welded to the tubes and lying in planes extending at 45 to the horizontal. Also secured to and interconnecting the tubes 5 is a bridge plate 7 upon which is mounted a seating 8 for an electric motor 9 whose axis extends longitudinally of the machine, that is perpendicular to the axis of the tubes 5, the shaft of the motor having an eccentric weight .10 fast thereon whereby when the motor is running oscillation is set up in a plane transverse to the axis of the motor. Such oscillation induces axial vibration in the tubes 5 and the lateral movement of the plates 6 thus created causes the plates, by reason of their inclination, to perform a vertical tamping of the plastic concrete, thereby effectively de-aerating and compacting the concrete. Each vibrator unit is suspended on two pairs of coiled tension springs 11 so that it can vibrate freely, said springs being attached to their lower ends to bridge members 12 welded to an adjacent pair of inclined plates 6 and at their upper ends to brackets 13 secured to a bar 14 extending forwardly from the conforming plate. Conveniently the bars 14 are secured at their rear ends to the conforming plate and at their front ends to a'transverse plate 15 supported between side cheeks 16 of the machine frame, the bars 14 and the vibrator units, including the plates 6, preferably inclining downwardly towards their rear ends at an angle of about 15 to the horizontal. This arrangement has been found to be the most effective in securing maximum compacting of the concrete at the point of entry to the throat leading to the space below the lower face of the conforming plate.

The axial oscillation or vibration imparted to the tubes preferably has a frequency within the range of 3,000 to 7,000 per minute and an amplitude of up to 0.1 inch and preferably around 0.06 inch, this large amplitude of oscillation ensuring full compaction of all of the concrete laid by the machine.

It will be understood that the electric motor above referred to may be substituted by a hydraulic motor fed by pressure fluid from a powered circuit on the main body of the machine and delivered to the motor by way of flexible conduits.

I claim:

1. A concrete laying machine comprising a conforming plate, fluent concrete being delivered forwardly thereof, a transverse frame plate, forwardly of the conforming plate and rigidly mounted thereto by side cheeks, and a plurality of individual concrete vibrator compacting units located in transversely spaced relationship across the width of the conforming plate, each of said units comprising rigid support means attached to and between said frame plate and said conforming plate, at least two pairs of inclined vibrating and compacting plates located beneath said rigid support means, parallel spaced members interconnecting said plates, means imparting vibration to said plates in a direction transversely of the direction of path of travel of the paving machine and being mounted on said parallel spaced members between said pairs of plates, and spring suspension means interconnecting said pairs of plates and said rigid support means, the plates of each of said pairs of plates being inclined towards each other in vertical planes with the bottom edge of each plate being inclined upwardly in the direction of path of travel of the machine, whereby fluent concrete is both vibrated and compacted by said units and vibration stresses to the paving machine are negated by said spring suspension means.

2. The machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein each of said rigid support means comprise a pair of beams, inclined upwardly in the direction of path of travel of said machine.

3. The machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein said means imparting vibration to said plates comprise an eccentric weight rotatable about an axis parallel to the direction of path of travel of the paving machine.

* r a: at w 5 

1. A concrete laying machine comprising a conforming plate, fluent concrete being delivered forwardly thereof, a transverse frame plate, forwardly of the conforming plate and rigidly mounted thereto by side cheeks, and a plurality of individual concrete vibrator compacting units located in transversely spaced relationship across the width of the conforming plate, each of said units comprising rigid support means attached to and between said frame plate and said conforming plate, at least two pairs of inclined vibrating and compacting plates located beneath said rigid support means, parallel spaced members interconnecting said plates, means imparting vibration to said plates in a direction transversely of the direction of path of travel of the paving machine and being mounted on said parallel spaced members between said pairs of plates, and spring suspension means interconnecting said pairs of plates and said rigid support means, the plates of each of said pairs of plates being inclined towards each other in vertical planes with the bottom edge of each plate being inclined upwardly in the direction of path of travel of the machine, whereby fluent concrete is both vibrated and compacted by said units and vibration stresses to the paving machine are negated by said spring suspension means.
 2. The machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein each of said rigid support means comprise a pair of beams, inclined upwardly in the direction of path of travel of said machine.
 3. The machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein said means imparting vibration to said plates comprise an eccentric weight rotAtable about an axis parallel to the direction of path of travel of the paving machine. 